CALLED TO SERVE - PERU LIMA CENTRAL MISSION - JULY 2014 ~ JULY 2016

Monday, November 30, 2015

November 30, 2015 Letter...

WUT UP! I don't wanna take a lot of time, because a lot of fools emailed me this week and I have to administer to those sheep who aren't of this fold alsoo... WOOW. JK love you guys most. I give you all my heart.

Fredonia and St. George.. I miss those two places. I'm glad you guys had some amazing holidays. I miss the holidays back home, but at the same time it's like... wut. Last year's holidays were hard for me, but this year... notttt at all. Which is good.

The package is going to be awesome.. something cool is that Pres. and Sister Larson`s ward in Idaho are doing this activity in which they are putting packages together for all the elders in this mission who aren't going to receive anything... how touching. I love that. It's gonna be a good Christmas here :)

MY RELEASE DATE HAS BEEN MOVED TO AUGUST 30TH. But yeah, I'm fine with it.

Just kidding, my date WILL NOT BE AFFECTED. None of the dates in our mission will be. July 13th is my date. Prepare the way before me.

I'm going to try to send pictures this weeeekkkk. okay? Imma do a mass picture send. I'll try to do that right now. yaaaa.

This week was a good week. We honestly worked our BOOTIES off. And I feel so pleased with the work that got done. I know the Lord is, too. We found a lot of new people, taught a lot of people, and had a good number of people at church on Sunday :) We met a girl this week named Ingrid who is sooo prepared. We met her Saturday and taught her a little bit of the Plan of Salvation. She had so many amazing questions that we only had time to explain the pre-earth life, and then she went to the 3 hours of church on Sunday. COOOOOLL. Conversion. Woooeehoo.

Tuesday we had a multi-zone meeting that lasted like 10 hours or something like that and Pres. Larson talked for the majority of it. LOVED IT. Pres. Larson and Sis. Larson are super special and I think so highly of them. We are blessed to have them in this mission.

Changes are coming up.. I'll be honest.. I'm praying for a change so that I don't have to be in Rimac... or better said the same neighborhood for my only two Christmas`s in the mission. I`m ready for a new zone.. I do believe that I'll be changed.. but we gonna see.

Thanksgiving Day was a Thanksgiving that I'm never going to forget! It just so happened that this day, my zone and only my zone, went to the temple! We hit a 7:30 sesh.. so early to be in the temple, but it was great. Every time I go I learn so much and I'm able to receive so much personal revelation. My favorite place on earth (it's in a constant fight for first place with Disneyland)! Afterwards, we ate a Thanksgiving meal at Subway. ROAST BEEF TOASTED. (I don't know why  didn't get Turkey, but I didn't, so don't bug me I forgot). SUBWAY IS COOL. There was this longgggg hair in my sandwich that I saw as the chick was making the sub, but I was so hungry and so proud to be in a little piece of America that I just said.. "There is a hair in there Miss Subway... but don't worry about it. I'll eat it anyways." I ate it. It felt great.

Love you all...

Elder Cluff

P.S. A little something that happened yesterday. There was a huge riot... or like a giant fight between fanatics of two soccer teams in Lima.. we were walking out of a members house with our lunch (because we cant eat with the sister missionaries in the member`s house, so we have to carry it home and eat it... lol) and out of no where we hear screams and yelling and we look and there is the mob of shirtless Peruvians throwing giant rocks and trying to kill each other. I was pumped. Then I was like "hey we should probably go"... then we started to go and then the mob who was fighting started coming our way and I almost got pegged with a HUGE rock. WAY TO KEEP THE SABBATH DAY HOLY. We started to run so we didn't die... then they started shooting each other and the cops came and started shooting them... insane. but we are okay.

Me at the Beach

Enjoy the view!

 My Zone

Elder Coayla and me

Elder Cluff, Elder Benites and Elder Coayla

New and improved Cluff Gym :)

November 23, 2015 Letter...

Ah... Milk. There is powdered milk here and all the jib jab but it's terrible...ahh I miss the real milk.. if you feel me. The milk here is fake and full of chemicals and makes me sick. Sooo I'm gonna rough it out 8 more months and when I get home I'll enjoy real milk.

And ouch that makes me hurt. Poor LP. That sucks. Anyways, there is always next year! HA.

Thanksgiving this week... if you wouldn't have told me it would have past right by me without me even realizing it. I don't imagine Pres. or Sister Larson doing anything for Thanksgiving, haha. But yeah, last Thanksgiving and I'll be home for the next one. The dogs are the best. Does kula have free reign of the house now? Or still gets kenneled?

Anywaysssssss ... cool. :) Good to hear all is well. And grandma told me a few weeks ago that Trev and his wife are moving to Fredonia to work there? And that B and Bob are moving to St. George? Is this for real? How come you didn't tell me, hahaha? Insane. I thought they would die there in Turlock... sad though because now we have no one to visit...lolllllzz.

This week was good. We are honestly working our trashes off, but most of our investigators are having trouble with the commandments. So we are going to be focusing this week a lot on them and in what way we can help them to better keep the commandments. Last week we focused a lot on teaching the blessings we receive when we keep the commandments, but that didn't work, so this week we plan to use a little more fire and teach what happens when we don't keep the commandments, so it can get past their heads :)

This week we met a dude named Tito and he is a boss. He has gone to church for like the past 3 weeks, and we talked to him the first week and got to know him and he told us that he was from Trujillo and that he was only visiting... so we were like ahhh crap. Well then, we´ll leave it at that because he´s going to be going back to the motherland soon... anyways.. the weeks passed by and passed by, and he kept showing up at church and we were like dude wtfetch? You told us you were going home soon, and he was like, yeah, well my time extended here and I want you guys to teach me. So we took out an appointment with him and visited him the other day in the church and wow.... PREPARED. It just so happens that he lives in Trujillo alone, and that all of his family are the leaders of our ward here. All of his family. He is the only one who isn't a member, but all of his brothers and sister have served missions and all that, so he knows what's going on and knows about the gospel. The only reason as to why he isn't a member, is because he says that before he didn't consider it too important and that because of his job he didn't have time. Anyways, things have changed and he wants to change and finally learn more. He is insanely ready and willing to learn and be baptized, and he wants to do it here so all of his family can be there. So we are are going to be working with him this week getting him ready to be baptized in beginning of December :) the Lord continues blessing us here and it's another addition to my testimony that miracles exist and that faith always precedes the miracle. Letsssssss getttttt it baby. December is going to be a month of miracles.. it always is. :)

We have a multi-zone conference tomorrow and that's gonna be cooool!

The catholic church members (or better said the people who live by me who had catholic parents and read the bible once so now they´re catholic) last night had a worshiping a false idol saint thing party (it's a common occurrence here, lol) and it was funny cuz they were all out there drinking and dancing (hilariously) and it reminded me of the Lamanite daughters who went and chilled in Shemlon dancing and singing and probably swiggin' back on papa Lamanite´s cough syrup... then they got kidnapped. I don't know if the people last night got kidnapped, but I imagine so. Apostasy isn't cool.

There is this music called regatone here and it is horrible.

Did I ever tell you the story of the guy who died from the cold soda? A good story for next week.

I put my Chums back on my glasses and everyone makes fun of me, but it's toooooo sick. Anyways, I'm eating 5 cups of oats everyday and I don't know if that's dangerous, but I feel good.

Love you guys a lot... :)

Elder Cluff

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

November 16, 2015 Letter...

Hahahaha freaking Carrie and Packer that was hilarious ... I could not believe my eyes. That's too funny. I'm glad they got to see each other though.. Carrie is such a mother coon. She will forever be so. Also, it's good hearing about Kula... gotta get him socialized around other dogs. I'm pumped to see the dogs again. How is Bear doing? Just chilling around still? Is he healthy? Good to hear about the family and that all is well in Zion...I love you very much.

This week was interesting. We had some super spiritual experiences and also some super not so great experiences. To start the week off, on Monday we were doing business all day searching for a house for the sister missionaries... we found one finally right next to the house of the relief society pres and we had to help them move and that was hard, but it was fun at the same time cuz service is fun and when we do service we feel good :). Haa. What else happened... so my comp had an interview with pres this week.. everything is good now, which makes me happy. I don't like it when people aren't obedient.. it hinders the spirit and when the spirit is hindered, the work doesn't move along, and when the work doesn't move along, the church doesn't grow and we waste our time.. But yeah, right now we are going chill and teaching with the spirit and we are happpy and that's what the mission and life is all about. It's been a struggle lately getting people to go to church, because the Sabbath day here is not respected at all. Literally, no one cares. The Sabbath day literally doesn't exist here, even the majority of the members don't respect it and it drives me INSANE. So this week the mission had a training that had to do with the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy, and we watched the training that the 12 Apostles gave in April before General Conference where they talked about that day. WOWWWW. It was amazing. First off, the Sabbath day has become one of my favorite days. I must say I have recently come to know how important this day is and how sacred it is to the Lord and how sacred it should be to us. Before the mission I guess I just didn't really understand the doctrine (understanding the doctrine is always the answer) of why the Sabbath day is so important, but I can say that now I do and I'm doing all I can to make the Sabbath a delight for me so it can, in turn, be a delight for my investigators. ALWAYS STRIVE TO KEEP THE SABBATH DAY HOLY IN THE FAM:) ...

Anyways, we are working with some real cool investigators right now.. and we are going to get them baptized, because they are cool and need those blessings. We have a family right now that is Juan, Melissa, and their daughter Silvana. They have to get married so they can get baptized, as always, but this family is super promising. Melissa's side of the family are all recent converts that we baptized; so now they are just waiting for her to get baptized. Anyways, they have a goal to get married this December and be baptized the same day. Letsssss get it. The good thing is that there aren't any problems with their papers or anything; so that makes it easier. Oh yeah, we had a super spiritual experience with Melissa the other day, we were giving the closing prayer and we gave it kneeled, and at the end of the prayer I felt such a strong witness from the spirit that every thing that we taught was true, and I know that everyone else felt it, too. As I looked over at Melissa there were tears in her eyes, and I didn't ask anything, I just simply told her, "Melissa, what you feel is the spirit. The spirit will continue testifying like that, as you continue reading the Book of Mormon and praying and asking if it is true." And I said nothing more and let her meditate on that. Wooooowwwww...amazing. The Lord is watching out for us and he is blessing us. It feels good. Our other investigators are good too, we just gotta get them to church and they´ll be baptizeddddddddd. Woooohooooo.

We taught a good amount this week and contacted over a hundred new people to visit for next week. The work is progressing and it feels so good. I gotta say that this ward is one of the hardest yet, because we don't have a lot of help, but we are pushing through. All of my converts here are doing well, too. Two of them received the priesthood yesterday and are going to help prepare and bless the sacrament next week :)

Sister Larson (pres wife) baked cookies this week and when we went to my comps interview she gave me one. I love her. She makes good cookies. A little piece of the UNITED STATES. In Peru cookies don't exist. Neither does milk.. anyways what else.. she always talks to me about church politics. I love it because that news doesn't arrive here to Peru. It usually stays in the US. But she is my source of what's going on in the church. Pres. Larson and Sis. Larson are really my heroes.
Anything else? Nope. Love ya fam :)

Elder Cluff

Monday, November 9, 2015

November 9, 2015 Letter...

Helllloo guys. Good to hear that the week was good and you guys went to Logan. I went there once when we went to Cokeville, Wyoming on a bro outing. I plan on going back one day to enter the hospital where I took my first breath from the womb. Anyways, I don't have a lot of time to write today as allllwwwaayyyss, but yeah everything is cool.

This week has been wild, to be honest. If you didn't know ,I have served my whole mission without being with sister missionaries. I don't know how, or if it's been a blessing or a curse. HA. I started my mission in Rimac, where it's too dangerous for them, then I went to Condevilla, where it's also too dangerous for them, and then I'm back in the Rico Rimac where for like 20 years it's been too dangerous for them. Anyways.. President talks with me the other week, and he's like, how would you feel about sisters in your district.. I was like what. Then he was like yeah... we gotta get them sisters in more places, cuz they are workers. And I was like.. hmm sister missionaries.. well, it just so happens that in one of the sectors in my district, one elder went home and the other got sent home, so it would be a perfect opportunity, and also, the sector where it would be is probably the safest in the zone, so I was like... yes. President do it. And he did it. Now I have sisters in my district.

It feels soooo weird. I honestly didn't even know there were sister missionaries in our mission.

But now they are in my district, and I am their leader, and it's fun. They work hard and they both happen to be like sister trainers so that's cool. We are going to get worrrrkkkk done this month. I also got two new elders in the other sector in my district. Two Peruvians.. they're cool.

This month we have to baptized a lot of people, but we have a lot of good people lined up. For example, there is a sister named Berta Velasquez and her BF Antonio, who she, thank goodness, doesn't live with. So yeah, we taught one of the coolest lessons of the restauration yesterday, and they both understood it so well, and accepted baptismal dates for the end of this month. Now we just gotta get members there to slay demons and be their friends. Pray for those two.

Also, we have a doppppeee dude named Gustavo who is so solid. This man has made sooooo many changes in his life, and he now wants to be baptized and follow the example of the Lord. YYYESSS. He used to live in the USA, and he was exported for drug problems. He is here alone, while all of his family is in the USA. He has been able to, with much fighting, overcome his addictions and now helps and works in a recovery center to help others that are like he was. Such a huge example to me. I love this man. We talk english all the time and he has this Virginian accent and it cracks me up. We are getting him prepared for the end of this month, too.

There are some others also, but yeah, swaaahhhgger dagger.

Love ya'll!

Elder Cluff

Thursday, November 5, 2015

November 2, 2015 Letter...

That's awesome.. what a week. Garth.. he is my hero. I love everything that man does. He is an inspiration. You wouldn't believe it, but I miss his music more than whatever other music I hear on the mission. He is my hero. And that`s great the all the family came into town, I always enjoyed that. Skyler and Ashley look good and happy and that makes me really happy. Tell them I really love them for me. And yeah, there is a Rodizio's here, but it's expensive and it's not as good as Tucano's so I think I'm just gonna wait until I get home to partake of that delicious fruit. And Ephraim looked awesome. I have never been there, but one day I would enjoy going to the temple in Manti. Anyways, that's also cool that Lauren is home... so weird tho. I went to her farewell and it feels like it was yesterday. But yeah, I'm sure her and Teej get marrrrriiiieeeeeeeeddddddddd.

This week was better. So yeah, since that Elder went home, I was in a trio this past week.. another Elder came with me and my comp, and you'll never believe who it was.. my trainer ... Elder Fernandez! Awesome hahaha. To be honest, it was weird at first because I started the mission with him, and now he is finishing it with me. Super weird situation, but it turned out okay. If you remember correctly, we had a few problems when I started the mission. I was new, I didn't know much, and I wanted to do things right and at that time he didn't always think with that mentality. So for that reason we used to butt heads a lot, and I got really sick of him. So what ended up happening was that he left after one transfer together, and we left kind of on a bad note. So yeah.. like 13 months passed and I didn't really talk to him much because I still had a little bit of resentment in my heart. But then the Lord, to humble me as he always does, put him in my district to finish his mission. Yeah... okay... weird I thought at first. So he came, (after he had been a DL for like 9 months), and I thought in my head like, yeah... he trained me, but now I'm his leader so I'm gonna get him back for what he did to me. Not that extreme, but like... I just wanted to show him the Elder that I had become and I wasn't in the right mindset. So we butted heads once again for the past change and I thought,  "Are you kidding me... what is going on... why can't we get along? Is it me ... is it him.. I don't get it." So I really started thinking.. why did the Lord put him in my district.. what am I supposed to learn from him? Why is he here again. Then I thought, "You know what.. maybe it's so we can reconcile ourselves.. so we can end on good terms. And then once I realized that, boom! His comp went home, and Pres put us in a trio. This last week we were really able to talk, get to know each other better, and really get over our pride. More so, me getting over my pride. Last night we had to get to his last interview in the offices, and we were able to talk for like an hour on the bus about life and that, and it was a super spiritual conversation, for which I learned that I need to be more humble. Because that is one thing I have always struggled with. So I really thank the Lord for the opportunity he game me to be with him again. I'm grateful that we were able to talk, and the truth is I have so much love and respect for Elder Fernandez. He is one of my heroes. It's funny how the Lord works sometimes, that he is constantly teaching us, and he will always provide the means so we can learn the lessons that he wants us to learn. Because every single one of us still has something to perfect and get better at. And now I know what I need to improve, and I'm seeking for the Lord`s guidance to do it. I invite you all to analyze yourselves and think of what you can improve. Whatever it may be, whatever the spirit tells you, do it. There was a Conference talk this past Conference that touched on that subject. I don't know what it was called, but it was by a '70. I invite you all to read it :) I'm happy. My heart is full.

Oh yeah, to end we went and played beach volleyball today on the beach and it was the sickest Pday yet. I'll send pics. CHAU WEIRDOS.

Love you, Elder Cluff